This issue of Asimov's Science Fiction is the first I have manually entered into LibraryThing. I picked this up at a library used book sale recently. (I always wonder when I find lone used issues of Asimov's, Analog, and so on for sale. Who gave them to the sale? Was this the only issue of the magazine they had? Why this one, and not some other?)

Overall, this is a pretty good issue. Robert Silverberg has a column in which he talks about learning to be a writer, which is decent. (I can think of a book I read recently whose author could have used some of the advice he gave in the column). The meat of the issue is, as usual, the stories. The best of the bunch is Veritas by Robert Reed about a bunch of twentieth century college students who go back in time to conquer the Roman Empire and change it, but find that it has changed them as well. The Assassination of Faustino Malarte by Paul McAuley is also interesting, but mostly only for the world building as the conclusion to the story is somewhat unsatisfying despite the fact that Malarte does deserve what he gets. Coming relatively soon on the heels of September 11, 2001, and the U.S.'s foray into some unsavory territory when dealing with threats to the nation, it is interesting to read both Natural Order by Michael Jasper and A Slice at a Time by Karen Traviss, which both have as an underlying theme the ability of people to engage in fairly monstrous acts by convincing themselves that it is for the greater good. Target Audience by Lori Ann White is also good, as the one truly humorous tale in the book, featuring the possible overwhelming future of advertising. Lambing Season by Molly Gloss is a bit light on substance, but has a fair amount of pathos as an isolated shepherd watches over a dying alien. The weakest story is Linda about a woman abused from beyond the grave by her dead husband: it is a bit weak in the supernatural elements, but is still a fairly good read.

The poetry in this volume is also mostly good. Heisenberg's Ghost by Laurel Winter mixes a haunting idea with physics, while Eight Things Not to Do or Say When a Mad Scientist Moves into Your Neighborhood by Bruce Barton is quite funny. Undertaker is a sad and poignant poem about starships that have outlived their useful lives, and their ultimate fate.

Overall, with a collection of good stories and no bad ones, this is a fine issue of a generally good quality magazine. ( )